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7 July 2003 by France Hurtubise in Beijing At 3:18 pm on Sunday July 6, the flood control headquarters of East Central China’s Anhui Province gave the signal to blow up a dyke. The blast opened a 1,500-metre breach in the dyke system holding back the waters of Tangduo Lake. This was the most recent in a series of measures to control the level of the swollen Huai River, which continues to wreak havoc in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. The Huaihe River originates in Henan Province, in central China, and flows through the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong before emptying into the Yellow Sea. Tangduo Lake is one of a number of reservoirs designed as flood water storage areas along the Huai River. Four days earlier, the authorities had opened the sluice gates at the Wangjiaba section of the river in another attempt to lower the level of the water. This emergency measure and Sunday’s dramatic explosion were preceded by the evacuation of 39,000 residents at risk from the rising floodwater. Families could only look on helplessly as the gushing water destroyed some 18,000 homes. The worst damage was sustained by communities living in mud-houses on the flood plain. For 76-year-old Liu Shi, who lost everything, this was not the first time. She has lived all her life by the river in Qinzhou prefecture, in Guangxi province, and every year with the arrival of the monsoon, she watches it swell. But for her and the other villagers, the river is everything. Although the local authorities will allocate some money for relocating the victims away from the river, many members of these communities have insisted on rebuilding their homes on the very same spot. The dire situation in Anhui Province is also repeated elsewhere in central and southern China. The provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan as well as Chongqing municipality have all been hit. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, this year’s floods have so far affected more than 44 million people. In Hunan, the local authorities report that the floods have affected over 3 million people, of whom more than 4,000 have been made homeless. A total of 3,500 villages, 280 townships and 70 counties have been directly affected by the floodwaters. In Guangxi, where nearly 4 million people have been affected, more than 125,000 acres of farmland have been destroyed, their banana, rice and corn crops washed away. In some counties, half the houses have collapsed. Heavy rain began falling over eastern China on June 21, with daily rainfall as high as 2.38 metres. This year’s flooding on the Huai River is the worst since 1991, and the situation is not expected to improve soon. According to the regional authorities, more than 568,000 people from the provinces of Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu have been mobilized to fight the ever rising waters. The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), together with the International Federation Programme Coordinator, has visited the worst affected areas of Hunan and Guangxi Provinces. Red Cross volunteers have distributed clothing, quilts, tents, medicine and water purification tablets to the victims. Medical teams from RCSC branches have travelled to the affected areas to look after those injured in the floods. Local fundraising activities are also being organized. In Guangxi, the Red Cross is assisting the local authorities in resettling those flood victims who had to be evacuated and distributing rice to the worst-hit communities. The RCSC headquarters has transferred quilts and tents from its disaster preparedness centre to the Anhui Red Cross branch. The RCSC has set disaster preparedness as one of its priority tasks, and a nationwide network of six regional disaster preparedness centres has been set up to strengthen its ability to respond to emergencies. Related links: China: appeals, updates and reports Chinese Red Cross Responding to floods Disaster preparedness Make a donation |
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